KINGSTON >> A Kingston police officer wound up on the business end of a skunk early Saturday morning while attempting to free the animal’s head from a jar.

Officer Jeremy Arciello, responding to an animal complaint at Prince Street and Smith Avenue about 2:10 a.m., encountered the unfortunate animal and teamed up with an unidentified civilian to free the skunk. Using a seat cushion, the two were able to trap the skunk and keep it and its tail down. While the officer held the animal down, the other man grabbed the jar and pulled it off the skunk’s head.

As the skunk was freed, however, Arciello “took a small, but very potent hit from the skunk’s best defense — skunk spray!” police said in a post on the department’s Facebook page.

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“The officer wound up wearing ‘Eau de Pepe le Pew’ cologne for the rest of the night, while the rest of the KPD officers on the shift were happily riding in solo cars,” the Facebook post said.